


Midnight Hands

by sps



Series: His Claws of God Are Dripping from His Crimes [5]
Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Crimes & Criminals, Death, Divorce, First Dates, Gun Violence, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Love, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Murder, Organized Crime, Post-Divorce, Recovery, Therapy, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:45:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6614728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sps/pseuds/sps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack has been going to therapy for the past couple months. Thanks to Axton who dragged him there under false pretenses to talk about why he had holed himself up in his office. <br/>Rhys has been working, waiting to hear back from Jack about his divorce papers and trying to deal with his own issues when it comes to recovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Give Me Therapy

Jack looked up at the clock, shifting his position in the leather chair as he stared blatantly at the lady sitting across from him. Who was tapping her red, ball point pen on the chart, staring at the mob boss over her blue rimmed glasses. Jack tilted his head to the side, steepling his fingers. These were his sessions, every singe time. Forty five minutes of his day wasted staring at each other as Jack tried to find his way around what to say. He couldn’t say much. Axton was going to get the utter shit beat out of him for forcing him into this. For dragging him to therapy. Jack dragged a hand over his face and sighed, crossing his legs. The lady looked at him again, scribbling something down on her paper. Jack raised an eyebrow. She had been writing things down for the past hour as Jack's mind wandered to different places. Places that would probably make her classify him as psychotic. Jack shrugged to himself, shaking his head tiredly as he thought more about the mess that Axton would be after he picked him up. His mind was also wandering towards Rhys.... and what the small boy was doing in that house all by himself. But at the moment, Jack was more curious about what his shrink had just written down on her clip board.

“What did you write down?” Jack asked, slouching down in his chair more.

The lady looked up at him, blinking, as if surprised that Jack had uttered a word to her this entire time. Jack tapped his lower lip, looking at her expectantly. She sat her pen down and sighed, re adjusting her glasses and folding her hands over the clipboard. Jack rolled his his eyes and shook his head, leaning forward, resting his elbwos on his knees.

“Are we going to get this session started?” She asked softly, trying to keep her voice level.

“What,”Jack repeated,”Did you write down?” She regarded him blankly again.

Jack snarled and reached over, snatching the clip board out her hands.

He flipped through all the pages, muttering to himself. “Repressed,”

“Appears to be burdened by something”

“Lonely?!” Jack rattled one thing off after another.

“Appears to be clinically depressed!?” Jack shouted, tossing the clipboard back at her.

“I am NOT depressed, or burdened by something!” He announced sitting back down and folding his arms over his chest.

She reached back over and grabbed her clip board and sighed. Folding her hands again,"Are we getting started?"

Jack sighed, dragging a hand tiredly over his face, and looked at her. He wasn't getting out of this. But it's not like he could tell her what his job was, or what he did. He'd be breaking the ancient rule, and he'd be killed. He could.... Tip toe around the truth.

"There's this... This boy," Jack started,"And I love him, and so does my daughter...."

"But?" She added.

"But.... I still haven't signed the divorce papers to divorce my wife," Jack finished.

"And why haven't you done that?"

Jack was silent again tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. Jack knew why he hadn't signed those papers. Jack knew the exact reason he hadn't signed all of those papers that his wife kept sending to him. Why he had feigned that he didn't know what was going on. Jack shook his head, no. He couldn't confess that, he wasn't going too, because then he would have to tell Rhys the real reason why he hadn't signed those papers and then there was a good chance that Rhys would never want to see him again. He dragged a hand over his face with a defeated groan, and hunched forward, elbows resting on his knees.

"Could it be, that you still love your wife?"

Jack looked up and laughed, doing his best to play it off. That he was over that wretch, over her and everything that their relationship had stood for. But, truth be told, that wasn't the case. He still loved her. He still wanted to fight for their relationship despite the lying and the fact that she had cheated on him. Part of Jack wanted to go back to her, and beg to work this out. But deep down, the thought of seeing Rhys again, calling Rhys his, made his heart speed up and his palms sweat. He rolled his eyes at the notion, every time he thought of Rhys he felt like a pathetic little school girl with a middle school crush on a boy. Jack looked over at the shrink he was still silent for a moment. He still loved her, but he knew it was time to move on. Jack blinked slowly.

"Yes..."

Jack winced at the sound of his voice, saying it out loud almost made it feel real. Saying out loud, after years of denying it, that he still loved his wife. Even thought they no longer lived together and every part of Jack wanted to be with Rhys, he was still in love with her, and still wished that it was her by his side. Jack sat back in the chair, and looked over at the clock. His session was over.

"Do you want her back?"

Jack looked over at the shrink again, after looking away from the clock. He was silent again. He stared at his shrink for the longest time. His mind was shouting at him to say yes, to say that he wanted Lillian back more than anything in the whole world. But his heart, the thing that he hardly ever listened too, was saying no. That it would rather have Rhys be the one waking up next to him every morning instead of some lying, cheating, drug addicted bitch.

"No,"Jack said softly.

 

Rhys groaned, opening his eyes to the stark white kitchen around him with those hideous, floral patterned lace curtains that he had always hated since he was a child. He sat up, peeling his face off of all of the pamphlets surrounding him. Different colleges that seemed to have great prospects for the boy. He was currently just taking classes at the community college down the street from the diner that he worked at. He sighed quietly, and shifted in his seat. His back hurt. He had taken too looking at colleges to keep his mind off of Jack. He didn't really have any intent on going, mostly it was the lack of cash that he had.He sighed, and dragged a hand through his matted down hair, and swallowed hard. His mouth felt full of cotton. He stood, pushing the chair back and leaving all of the pamphlets on the kitchen table as he walked to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He knew that he shouldn't of fallen asleep at the kitchen table, his back was already hurting from sitting there too long. He started to work on un buttoning his shirt, tossing into the growing pile of clothes that was growing in the pile in the corner of the hall near the bathroom. He really needed to do laundry, it would be another thing to keep him busy. He hadn't heard much from Jack in the past month, a few drunk texts and phone calls that he had ignored. Rhys sighed, and closed the bathroom door and started the shower, grabbing some towels from the cabinet.

Rhys walked back up the stairs to an insistent knocking on the front door of the house. Fresh out of the shower and he had just started a load of laundry. The knocking became more insistent, and his plan to ignore whoever it was, didn't seem to be working. Rhys groaned, and turned off the kitchen light.

"I'm comin! I'm comin!"Rhys shouted in annoyance as he walked to the door.

Rhys groaned, checking his hair in the mirror and pushed some of the stray pieces back into place ontop of his head where they belonged. He pulled open the door, and his eyes went wide.

" _Jack...._ "


	2. I'm Not Around

Rhys wanted to slam that door in his face, he wanted to close the door, and forget that Jack was there. He was getting sick and tired of Jack doing this. Of walking out of Rhys' life and then walking back into it. Rhys couldn't handle that, he wanted Jack to want to be with him and not run off the minute things started to get a little complicated. Rhys looked up at Jack, stepping back and closing the door. Rhys looked down as the door didn't close all the way and he heard a pained grunt from the other side of the door. Rhys groaned, the idiot has stuck his foot in the door to prevent it from closing. Rhys sighed, resting his head on the opposite side of the door. He shook his head, taking a shaky breath before he spoke.

"What do you want, Jack," Rhys asked softly.

"to talk to you," Jack said, pushing his foot farther into the door so that Rhys couldn't try to close the door anymore than he already had.

"Why..."

Jack sighed,"Rhys, open the door and let me in please."

Rhys sighed, he didn't want to open the door for him, but he wanted to talk to him. Rhys had been calling him every so often and Jack never answered. Rhys shook his head, taking a breath and stepping back, pulling open the door and stepping aside so Jack could come in. A soft smile spread across his lips as he walked inside, limping from when Rhys had smashed his foot.

"We should probably ice your foot...."Rhys commented quietly as he closed the door and went to the kitchen to get a bag of frozen peas.

Jack followed Rhys into the kitchen and sat down at the table, dragging a hand over his face with a sigh. Rhys opened the freezer and dug around for a little bit. He had so many different types of vegetables in this freezer it was always a stupid idea to buy more when he went grocery shopping. But he always did. He finally found the peas, and grabbed one of the dish towels off of the handle of the oven and wrapped them up before handing them to Jack. Rhys sighed, and sat down across from Jack, drumming his fingers on the table anxiously, he didn't know what Jack wanted to talk to him about. At all. He sighed shakily and watched as Jack placed his ice pack on his foot with a groan. Rhys was silent for a moment, watching Jack. 

"What did you want to talk about?" Rhys asked softly as a few more minutes passed by.

Now it was Jack's turn to be silent, watching Rhys sit there at the table with a tired look in his eyes.

"I signed the papers..." Jack said finally,"The divorce papers, its finalized.

Rhys looked up at Jack, a soft smile spreading on his face,"Well... That's good.

"But that's not the only reason why I am here."Jack added, leaning forward and placing the ice on the table.

"I signed those papers, Rhys, and I want too... formally ask you on a date."

Rhys raised an eyebrow, heat rushed to his cheeks, he was shocked to say the least, that Jack had asked him out on a date, and signed the papers. Rhys smiled, and nodded.

"Yeah... Okay," Rhys said quietly.


	3. Betrayed

_The young boy looked at himself in the mirror. He looked so... different in the blue button down shirt, black pants and tie. Classic uniform for a police officer after graduating the academy. The small boy sighed, running a hand through his dark amber locks pursing his lips tiredly with a sigh. He scratched the back of his neck and looked at himself in the mirror. He was only on the force for six months... and he had been told that he showed exemplary skills and was already being assigned to a special division of the force. Rhys sighed and chewed on his lower lip. He was nervous to say the least. He wasn't sure what he was going to be doing yet. Rhys pushed a hand through his hair again with a sigh. It was time for him to go._

Rhys sighed gently as he straightened his tie. Jack had insisted on taking Rhys out on a proper date. He stared down at his cell phone halfheartedly, the number pulling up memories that he wanted nothing more than to forget. He had been refusing to do what his job wanted him to do ever since Jack had came to pick him up after his experience with Vasquez, and his boss had been trying to get a hold of him. Rhys sighed, giving up on his tie and grabbed his phone, hitting the answer button.

"What?" Rhys snapped, pressing the phone between his shoulder and ear as he went back to trying to tie his tie.

"Goddamn it! Rhys!" His boss hissed in his ear.

Rhys sighed,"What do you want?"

"Want to tell me why, no one has heard from you for nearly half a fucking year!"

Rhys licked his lips and shook his head, pulling down his collar as he finally got his tie on properly. Walking out of the bathroom and turning off the light.

"My mother passed away,"Rhys semi-lied as he walked into the living room and grabbing his dress shoes.

"Your mother passed away two months ago, Rhys," His boss snarled.

"I am aware of that," Rhys said, smiling as there was a knock at the door.

"That doesn't explain the six fucking months no one has heard from you!!!"

Rhys sighed and stood, opening the door and smiling at Jack, inviting him in.

"You put that damn wire back on, or I will out you to the entire organization myself,"

Fear ran through the small boy, "Yes, sir."

Rhys put his phone down and smiled at Jack,"You can go ahead and sit down... I'll be right back."

Rhys ran to his room, pulling open the drawers. Rhys had seen first hand what Jack had done to men that had betrayed them. Shot them point blank in the head. Rhys took a shaky breath and pulled the wire and microphone out of his drawer, checking the batteries and clipping it to the back of his pants. He couldn't believe he was doing this, falling back into betraying Jack again. There was a reason he was so hesitant to tell Jack that he loved him. Constantly wearing a mic, cops constantly trailing them. Listening to every conversation every whispered word the two men shared. Rhys ran a hand through his hair and forced a slight smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole date had gone off with out a hitch, Jack felt light and airy, a smile was plastered on his face for the entire evening. He was truly enjoying himself, the nights that he had spent, beating himself up over the fact that he had somehow managed to ruin yet, another relationship thanks to the wretched wench he was married to before he had meant the boy that had gone and turned his life upside down. Jack had felt better than he had felt in weeks, nearly months.

Jack sighed gently and looked over at Rhys who was still talking about school. Jack leaned back in his seat, dragging his hand over his face and smiled, watching as the boys eyes light up in wonder as he continued talking. Jack had to admit that the boy was adorable, he looked like a puppy who was being praised for fetching a stick. Rhys was using his hands to show the exact size of whatever he was describing, Jack had to be honest, he was only partially listening. Rhys managed to knock over a water glass.

Rhys' face fell as he saw the mess he had made, pushing his chair back and standing, bending over to retrieve the fallen glass when something had caught his eyes. A wire poking out from beneath the young boys dress shirt. Jack narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, fingers snagging on the long piece. Jack tugged on it slightly, seeing how the boy stiffened at the feeling over wire on bare skin.

"Rhys..." Jack narrowed his eyes,"Are you wearing a wire..."


	4. Dirty Little Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all thought I was gone bitch y'all thought.

Rhys felt his heart drop into his stomach, a sudden sick feeling washing over him as Jack's fingers curled around the thin wire tucked under his shirt. Rhys made eye contact with the man who was surprisingly calm in this situation. Rhys swallowed hard, as he stepped away from Jack. Jack's eyes followed him, and the older man pushed his seat back and grabbed the younger man by the wrist. Pulling him up against him. Jack's face was emotionless. Stone cold, just like it had been when they first met.

"This whole time..." Jack whispered, his voice thick with an unspoken anger.

"Jack..." Rhys breathed, his voice shaking from abstract fear.

Jack pulled Rhys out of the restaurant and to the car. Fingernails digging into his wrist.

"Jack let me go!" Rhys snarled, trying to hide his panic as Jack stopped in the middle of the parking lot. 

Jack stopped, not facing Rhys as he straightened himself. He had let go of Rhys' wrist, hands falling at his sides.

"I let you into my home..." Jack said softly.

Rhys said nothing, feeling his heart start to pound in his chest as he looked down at the snow-covered pavement. He knew that Jack wouldn't give him the chance to explain himself. He wasn't sure how to feel about what had just happened. He had known deep down that he shouldn't put that wire back on. He knew what Jack was going to do to him now that he had put the wire back on. 

"Jack..." Rhys said softly, stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. 

Jack didn't move at the younger man's hand on his shoulder. Anger was bubbling just under the surface of his skin. He was sure that Rhys was different than everyone else. That Rhys was the one man he could trust in this crazy life he had been basically shoved into. Rhys had betrayed him. He had let Rhys into his house, around his daughter and in meetings that Rhys had no business being in but Jack was just so in love with the boy that he couldn't fathom keeping secrets from him. Yet, this whole time, nearly a whole year, Rhys had been keeping a secret that was threatening everyone he knew and cared about, and his daughter. 

Jack felt a pain in his chest at the thought of Angel. At the danger that she could have been put in now because of this rat standing behind him. Angel could be taken away from him, shoved with that bitch of a mother that didn't care about her no matter how many times she promised she did. Jack clenched his fists at his side. Hoping that he could come up with a reasonable explanation for all of this.

"Rhys..." Jack hissed softly as he turned around to face him.

He stared down at the small boy,"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't put a bullet in your head..."

Rhys swallowed hard. He knew what he wanted to say, he wanted to drop down on his knees and beg for Jack to forgive him. Rhys looked up at him, into the heterochromatic eyes that looked like they wanted nothing more than Rhys to say sorry and beg to be taken back. To be forgiven. He took a deep breath, right now he didn't care who on the end of this line heard him. Whether or not it was the chief on the end of the line or someone lower than the both of them.  
"Because I love you, Jack..." Rhys said softly. 

His voice cracked as he spoke, he had only spoken those words once, when Jack was laying in a hospital bed from a gunshot wound. Rhys averted his gaze from Jack's, reaching under his shirt and pulling the tape recorder and wire out from under his clothes and tossing it on the wet pavement at Jack's feet. 

"I haven't worn it in a while... I got a call before our date.." Rhys muttered as he shoulders shook.

Jack still didn't speak and Rhys was nearly positive that Jack had pulled a gun on him so he had no intention of looking up in order to confirm that suspicion. Rhys was done waiting for a response, pulling his coat around his body. He turned and left, leaving Jack in the full parking lot and didn't look back at him as he walked down the street, heading back towards home. 

 

 

 

 

Rhys had curled up on the old couch in the small living room. He hadn't heard from Jack, and he was sure that he wasn't going too. Rhys sighed, that was some date. At this point, he didn't exactly care in the chief outed him to Jack. Or if Jack had a change of heart and came to his house to put a bullet in his head. Rhys was sure that he had just broken up with Jack. And that this date was going to be the last time he saw Jack ever again, and that idea didn't bug him at all. 

Jack sat in his office, the door closed and locked to keep anyone from coming in as he stared at the tape recorder sitting directly in the middle of his desk. Rhys had torn it from under his clothes and thrown it at his feet after confessing his love for him. Jack was ready to shoot him, not wanting to hear any excuses but the sound of Rhys' voice cracking when he heard him say I love you. Jack sighed and dragged a hand over his face, looking around his office through the space between his fingers. He was torn, he didn't know what to do. Every fiber of his being was telling him to forgive him, that it wasn't so bad because he hadn't worn it in a while and it's not like during the date Jack delved into any mafia secrets. But Jack also knew that Rhys had worn it around him, that there were now things that the police knew about him and his men that could put everyone at risk. Put his daughter at risk even... Jack sighed again, sitting up in his chair and folding his hands in front of his face. Was this the end of them? Would Jack ever see Rhys again or hear from him? He dragged a hand over his face and stared at the wall. Jack wanted to talk to him and get a clearer answer on what had happened.

Maybe in the morning...  

 


	5. Wolves At Night

\-- Three Months Later--

The air was brisk; winter had faded to spring, but the cold air still hadn't disappeared. Rhys was near positive that he was going to live with the cold in his bones till the day he died. His chest heaved as he took another deep breath. He felt light, airy almost was a better word. Memories that he had the months prior were starting to fade into a distant hum in the back of his mind. A quiet, gentle hum. He was starting to forget. Starting to feel like he was able to come out of his house without any reminder of Jack. Any reminder of what they could have possibly had together. He felt free, liberated of a man that part of Rhys still yearned for. For his touch and his gentle words. Rhys shook his head and huffed a breath, pulling his coat tighter around him. He was better off this way. Alone, without Jack. At least that is what he was going to keep telling himself. Until it was true. He was going to keep telling himself that until he woke up believing them and could stop repeating them to himself in the mirror. Rhys was hopeless; he missed Jack, and he hated to admit that he did. 

Rhys had quit his job on the police force and now he was working full-time at the diner that he had been posting at during his time undercover. He felt better now that he wasn't worried about his cover being blown. Rhys chewed on his lower lip, pulling his coat tighter around him as he walked towards the diner. 

 

 

 

 

Jack sighed and listened half-heartedly to the man standing in front of him. Pleading for some favor. Axton thought that it would be a good idea for Jack to start getting back into the swing of business. That it would be good for him instead of him wallowing in self-pity. Jack blinked slowly and stared at the man in front of his desk. He wasn't even sure what he was asking for. 

"Whatever it is,"Jack began, "I'll handle it."

The man seemed relieved as he scurried up to Jack's desk and began shaking his hand talking about how grateful he was that Jack was willing to help. Jack was partially disgusted at the man's groveling and pulled his hand out of his grasp. He sat back in his chair, leaning back as Axton showed the man to their door. He stared at the window, resting his head against his fist, watching wind picked up the leaves and debris from the winter that had just faded. He closed his eyes, exhaling a long breath, opening his eyes again. 

He was having a hard time believing that it had been almost three months since he had last seen Rhys. His anger had faded to loneliness, to depression, anger again, and now plain guilt and regret that he had allowed something like that to push away the one person who had shown any love towards Jack since he had divorced his wife. Jack heaved himself out of the plush office chair and grabbed his jacket off the coat rack by his office door, shrugging it on. Axton turned to follow Jack out of the office and out of his home before Jack raised a hand to stop him.

"I want to walk alone, Axton," Jack said, looking over his shoulder at him.p

"Sir are you sure that is a safe idea?" Axton asked, stepping back some.

Jack shrugged,"I can handle myself, Axton, just stay here and watch after my daughter alright?" 

Axton hesitated before he nodded,"Yes, sir,"

Jack smiled slightly, turning on a heel and walking out the door, breathing in the crisp spring air. 

He slid his hands into his coat pockets, the heels of his shoes making soft clicking sounds as he stepped through the puddles on the side walk, his mind wandering. He didn't have a definite place that he was going, He just felt like he was going to end up insane if he stayed in that office with Axton hovering over him. Jack sighed, watching his breath puff in front of his face in a white cloud of steam as he exhaled. It was later in the evening, a Sunday night and many people were home with their families by now so the streets were fairly silent.

The light from the street lamps were reflected in the puddles and the sound of crickets penetrated the silent night. Jack slowly began to recognize his surroundings, the familiar houses and the numbers on the mail boxes. Jack knew where he was going, towards his house. Jack bit his lip thinking to himself that maybe he should turn back and not put himself through this because then he would be right back where he had started. Feeling miserable and missing him. Jack sighed, his shoulder's slumping as he stopped in front of the old house, staring up at the door, glancing in the windows to see if anyone was home. Jack dragged a hand through his hair and walked up the porch steps. The stairs were slick with rain and Jack had nearly slipped a few times while he walked. Jack pulled a hand out of his coat pocket and knocked on the door, silently praying that no one would answer the door and he could put this thought out of his mind when it came to Rhys.

Jack waited for a few moments, a little irritated when no one had answer the door raising his fist to knock on the door a second time.

"Can I help you?" A voice behind Jack asked.

Jack turned around, looking down the porch steps at the familiar young boy who was staring at Jack as if he didn't recognize the strange man standing on his porch.


	6. Mirrors

Jack looked down at the young boy, sighing and walking down the steps and stood in front of him, a soft, relieved smile on the lips of the older man for finally seeing him after their painful departure. Jack looked him up and down, he had lost a considerable amount of weight since Jack had last seen Rhys, but other than that the boy seemed to fair just fine on his own. Jack held his breath, unaware that he was staring until Rhys had cleared his throat. He pulled himself out of his trance he looked down at Rhys who was looking up at the older man with a raised eyebrow.

Rhys crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight from foot to foot, "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Jack repeated not entirely sure he had heard Rhys right.

What did he want exactly? He had only planned on taking a walk and he had ended up in front of Rhys' house.

"Yes, Jack, what _do_ you want?" Rhys repeated again, appearing to become more annoyed as Jack searched for an answer to the younger man's question.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Rhys asked

"I didn't mean to come here," Jack said softly, almost embarrassed that he didn't have a better answer. He didn't know exactly what to say to Rhys. He didn't have a solid explanation as to why he had shown up at his house after three months unannounced in the late hours of the evening on a Sunday night.

"Then why are you here?" Rhys pressed.

Jack was silent again, racking his brain for an answer that would please him. He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Because I missed you,"Jack blurted out without any thought behind it, but he knew that he had meant it.

Rhys stared at him, raising an eyebrow again before he burst out laughing. Jack was a little taken aback by his laughter, he hadn't meant for what he said to be funny, it wasn't supposed to be a joke. He actually missed Rhys and had been refusing to admit for nearly a month and a half. Jack waited, waiting for Rhys to stop laughing so that they were able to have an actual conversation about this. Jack missed him, he missed seeing Rhys smile and waking up next to him just to pull him closer to his chest and settle in bed with him even though both of them needed to be at work. Jack had missed everything about the younger man even if Rhys had lied to him and put his daughter and himself at risk.

"Rhys, it's not a joke I am being dead serious," Jack snapped almost, annoyed that the younger man found this so funny.

" _Bullshit_ that you missed me," Rhys said, pointing his finger at Jack in an accusing manner.

"If you really missed me, you would've come here a lot sooner," Rhys added.

Jack groaned, he was not in the mood to argue with Rhys over this but it seemed almost like he had no choice but to argue with the younger boy over whether or not he did really miss him.

"I kept telling myself that I _didn't_ miss you, Rhys," Jack said quietly, looking down at the ground.

Rhys didn't seem impressed as he stared up at Jack, "You could have come to see me..."

Now, Rhys seemed as if he was on the verge of tears, "You could have come to talk this out with me instead of leaving me on my own!"

"I wanted to!"Jack snapped, "But I was fucking pissed at you!"

"Do you think I wanted to keep it a damn secret, Jack?!" Rhys snapped back.

"But the point is that you did keep it a damn secret! I could have kept you safe," Jack snarled stepping forward and grabbing Rhys by the wrist and pulling him closer, staring down at him.

Rhys looked up at Jack, trying to hide the fact that he was shaking and remain determined no matter how bad Jack was trying to scare him now.

Jack sighed and leaned down, crushing his lips to Rhys' and pulling him flush against his body.

Rhys' eyes went wide, trying to fight back against Jack, hitting him on the shoulder with his free hand. Feeling a fire ignite deep in his core at the feeling of his lips on Jack's again.

Rhys twisted himself out of Jack's grip and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand spitting on the ground. He looked up at Jack, who was looking down at Rhys with a smug smile. Seeming absolutely satisfied with himself. The smug look on his face just made Rhys' even angrier and he stormed past Jack, pushing him out of the way and unlocking the door to his house.

"What? You didn't like that?

Jack asked a soft chuckle evident in his voice.

Rhys didn't answer him, shoving his door open and slamming it shut, leaving the older man out in the cold evening. Rhys leaned back against the door, breathing hard, his fingers brushing over his lips feeling over the little divets that Jack had left when he had bitten a little too hard on the soft skin of his lips. He pushed himself off the door and peeked out the blinds in the living room, watching as Jack turned down his drive way and left.

Rhys groaned and hit his head against the wall in annoyance with Jack, himself and the whole situation. He wanted to run out there and call Jack back inside the house and have him shove Rhys up against a wall and kiss him like that again. But if he did that, he would only be admitting that he also missed Jack... and that he had also enjoyed that kiss.


End file.
